To use a fork of the 𝐐𝐌𝐊 firmware to flash 𝐐𝐌𝐊, begin by creating a personal fork of the official 𝐐𝐌𝐊 repository on GitHub. Once forked, clone your personal fork to your local machine using the command git clone https://github.com/yourusername/qmk_firmware.git. If you're using a specific fork, such as the Framework Computer fork for the Framework 16, clone it directly with git clone [email protected]:FrameworkComputer/qmk_firmware.git and check out the required tag, like v0.2.9, as the default branch may not contain the necessary keyboard support.

• After cloning, set up your build environment. If you are using the 𝐐𝐌𝐊 command-line tool, you can use qmk setup /path/to/your/fork to configure it. This step ensures the environment is correctly initialized for building firmware. For the Framework 16, you must also configure Linux udev rules to ensure the device is recognized as a mass storage device during flashing.
• Next, create a new directory for your custom keymap within the keyboards/ directory of your fork, copying the default keymap into it. Modify the keymap.c, config.h, and rules.mk files as needed for your custom configuration.
• To build the firmware, use the qmk compile command with the appropriate keyboard and keymap paths, for example: qmk compile -kb keyboard_name/keymap_name -km your_keymap… For the Framework 16, building is done using a container with the target in the format KEYBOARD:KEYMAP:TARGET. This process generates a firmware file, such as a .uf2 file, in your current directory.
• Finally, flash the firmware. For devices using the DFU bootloader, use tools like dfu-programmer with the commands erase --force, flash --force, and reset.
• For the Framework 16, which uses an RP2040 microcontroller, connect an external keyboard, put the device into bootloader mode, and copy the generated firmware file to the mounted mass storage device. For other keyboards, tools like QMK Toolbox or pok3rtool may be required, depending on the hardware.
• After flashing, you can use the VIA application to configure key mappings, ensuring you use the correct VIA v3 definition file for your keyboard model.